Inking roller



LBMJS M M H9M J. C. SPROULL INKING ROLLER v Filed Aug. 25, 1921 Patented@et 1d, 19241. Y

JOHN C. SPROULL, OF AKRON, OHIO, ASSIG-NOR TO' THE B. F. GOODRICHCOMYANY, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW' YORK.

INKING ROLLER.

Application filed August 23, 1921.

To all whom t lmay concern:

Be it known that I, Jox-IN C. SrRoULL, a citizen of the lUnited States,residing at Akron, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Inling Roller, of which the following`is a specification.

This invention relates to rollers for inking the printing' surfaces ofprinting presses, and its object is to pro-vide improved means forovercoming the spring or camber of the roller'and thus secure a moreeven distribution of ink throughout its length. As ordinarilyconstruct-ed, such a roller is r made tubular for the sake of lightnessand is provided with a pair of short stub-shafts fixed in its ends andforming the journals for the roller, which is thus supported only at itsends', with the result that the roller' springs slightly from thepressure of the printing cylinder and thus fails to secure an adequatepressure along its middle portion. My invention overcomes thisdifficulty and consists in the features hereinafter described andclaimed.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing a preferred formof my improved inking,- roller structure.

Fig'. 2 is an end elevation of the mounting, showing part of a printingcylinder.

Referring to the drawings, 10 is a shaft which is keyed at its ends to apair of slideblocks 11, which are slidabl'e in vertical ,quideways 12,in a pair of supportingbrackets 18, formed on the press-frame 14, sothat the inhing roller may rest on fthe surface of the printing cylinder15, against which it is held with considerable pressure by a pair ofset-screws 16, engaging,- the blocks 11.

17 is an inking-roller mounted on the shaft 10A and comprising a tubularcore or shell 18, which may b'e made of metal or any other suitablematerial, such as hardrubber mixed with fiber, and a soft cylindricalsurface 19 which may be made of any of the usual materials, butpreferably of Serial No. 494,510.

a suitable rubber compound vulcanized upon the core 18. The roller 17 issupported on a shaft 10, in this instance at two points only, by meansof a pair of ball-bearings 20, whose inner and outer race-ways may besecured in any suitable manner upon IJthe shaft 10 and core 18respectively, as by means of a forced fit on a suitable cylindricalsurface of the shaft and core, their correct spacing beingmaintained bystop-shoulders 21 and 22.

rlhe bearings 20 are located well wit-hin the tubular core 18 at pointsremote from its ends, preferably at a distance of onequarter of thelength of the roller from said ends, so as to leave an unsupportedqua-rter length at each end and an unsupported half length in themiddle. Each half of the roller then acts in effect as a lever fulcrumedat its middle point, the pressure on one end of which counterbalancesthe pressure on the other end, so

that the amount of spring or camber` which can be imparted to theunsupported portions of the roller is greatly reduced. Any spring whichmay occur in the shaft 10 is ineffectual to disturb the rotative balanceand the roller may, therefore, run approximately true at a very highspeed, since the shaft is ron-rotating and consequently may act simplyas a spring support for the bearings 20.V

I claim:

In a printing-press, the combination of a printing-cylinder, a pair ofshaft supports adjacent thereto, a shaft slidinpgly mounted in saidsupports in a. position parallel to said cylinder and held againstrotation, a tubular inking roller surrounding said shaft, and a pair ofanti-friction bearings interposed between said shaft and roller andlocated within the roller at a distance approximately one-quarter of thelength of the roller from each end.

ln witness whereof l have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of August,1921.

JOHN C. SPROULL.

